Quote For The Day

“In the mid-1650s, the small Jewish community living in lower Manhattan
petitioned Dutch governor Peter Stuyvesant for the right to build a synagogue,
and they were turned down. In 1657, when Stuyvesant also prohibited Quakers from
holding meetings, a group of non-Quakers in Queens signed the Flushing
Remonstrance, a petition in defense of the right of Quakers and others to freely
practice their religion. It was perhaps the first formal political petition for
religious freedom in the American colonies, and the organizer was thrown in jail
and then banished from New Amsterdam.

“In the 1700s, even as religious freedom took hold in America, Catholics in
New York were effectively prohibited from practicing their religion, and priests
could be arrested. Largely as a result, the first Catholic parish in New York
City was not established until the 1780s, St. Peter's on Barclay Street, which
still stands just one block north of the World Trade Center site, and one block
south of the proposed mosque and community center....

Whatever you may think of the proposed mosque and community center, lost in
the heat of the debate has been a basic question: Should government attempt to
deny private citizens the right to build a house of worship on private property
based on their particular religion? That may happen in other countries, but we
should never allow it to happen here.

This nation was founded on the principle that the government must never
choose between religions or favor one over another. The World Trade Center site
will forever hold a special place in our city, in our hearts. But we would be
untrue to the best part of ourselves and who we are as New Yorkers and Americans
if we said no to a mosque in lower Manhattan.

Let us not forget that Muslims were among those murdered on 9/11, and that
our Muslim neighbors grieved with us as New Yorkers and as Americans. We would
betray our values and play into our enemies' hands if we were to treat Muslims
differently than anyone else. In fact, to cave to popular sentiment would be to
hand a victory to the terrorists, and we should not stand for that," - mayor Mike Bloomberg, fighting back against the disgraceful Republican efforts to exploit and foment restrictions on religious liberty.

(Photo: A man climbs a ladder as workers continue construction on the World
Trade Center site in July 15, 2010 New York City. Construction at the
site is expected to be completed by 2013. By Eric Thayer/Getty
Images.)

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